Doorstop



, 1954 w. E. SODERBERG Qct. 19

DOORSTOP Filed Aug. 3, 1953 Fatenteci Oct. 19, 1954 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE DOORSTOP William E. Soderberg, Davenport, Iowa Application August 3, 1953, Serial No. 372,126

7 Claims.

'device having means thereon for receiving the door and serving as a fulcrum, and long and short lever arms, the short lever arm being engageable with the floor when the device is rocked by means of manual force applied to the long lever arm. A further characteristic of the device is that the long lever arm or another part of the device is inherently flexible so that the long lever arm may be sprung past the door knob when force is applied thereto and may spring back and be engaged and retained by the door knob. A further feature of the invention is that the stop is equipped with rubber or like material to prevent marring of the door, as well as to increase the grip of the short lever arm on the floor adjacent to the door. A still further feature of the invention is the provision of such device in the form of a single elongated rodlike member, preferably of metal or equivalent material, whereby the stop has no moving parts and may be easily and economically produced in large quantities.

The foregoing and other important objects and desirable features inherent in and encompassed by the invention will become apparent as a preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed by Way of example in the following detailed description and accompanying sheet of drawings in which Fig. l is a perspective view of the door stop by itself.

Fig. 2 is a View, on a reduced scale, showing the use of the door stop, the full lines illustrating the preliminary position of the. long lever arm and the dot-dash lines illustrating the retained position of the long lever arm.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view, on an enlarged scale, as seen along the line 3--3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevational view of the lower portion of Fig. 2.

In the form indicated, the door stop or device comprises an elongated element or rod-like mema short lever arm 18 and a long lever arm 20. The upper end of the element is equipped with a handle 22 to facilitate its use.

The element is constructed of a single rodlike member shaped as shown to provide the lever arms I8 and 28 and the fulcrum portion Hi. The short lever arm is has thereon and normal thereto a presser bar or foot portion 24 which is spaced from and parallel to the fulcrum por tion [6. The short lever arm it extends into a reverse loop 26, which loop extends thence down- Wardly to join the fulcrum portion i6. The other end of the fulcrum portion is integral with or joined to the long lever arm 29, the long lever arm being bent as shown to form a continuation .of the fulcrum portion.

That portion of the long lever arm 22 adjacent to the fulcrum portion It has a covering of rubber or rubber-like material, as at 28, to prevent marring of the door when in use, as will presently appear. The presser foot 24 has a similar rubber covering, or its equivalent, as at 36, to increase the gripping efficiency of the presser foot 24 with the floor adjacent to the door. The rubber covering at 30, as well as at 28, is in the form, preferably, of rubber tubing, and in the instance of the covering 30 the tubing is extended so as to ggver the short lever arm [8 as well as the loop Portions of a standard or conventional door 32 are illustrated in Figs. 2, 3 and 4. The door is shown as conventionally having opposite upright faces 34 and 36, a bottom edge 38 and opposite side edges 40 and 42. The door is hinged at M on a vertical axis along its side edge 42, as is conventional and has a door knob 45 adjacent to its side edge 40.

In the use of the device or door stop, the door is placed ajar at the desired position and the stop is inserted beneath the door so that the fulcrum portion it engages the bottom edge of the 'door, preferably close to the side edge 40 of the door as illustrated in Fig. 2. This places the loop 26 at the face 36 of the door and the long lever arm 20 at the face 34 of the door, the loop serving as a first means and the portion of the lever arm proximate to the fulcrum portion 16 serving as a second means engageable respectively with opposite faces of the door to prevent lateral displacement of the stop relative to the door.

In this position of the stop, the short lever arm extends downwardly toward the floor and also toward the side edge 42 of the door, the presser foot portion 24, covered by its rubber cover 39, engaging the floor. The long lever arm ex-.

3 tends upwardly and toward and beyond the side edge til of the door to the full-line preliminary position of Fig. 2. From this position, the lever arm 2%) may be moved inwardly by manual force applied in a direction toward the hinged side of the door, the long lever arm being sufiiciently long to extend beyond the door knob. The long lever arm is first moved past the door knob and is then sprung inwardly and released to engage and be retained by the door knob. The element or member 153 includes sufficient flexibility or resiliency for this purpose. When force is applied to the lever arm 28, the element fulcrums about the fulcrum portion 16 and the presser foot" covered by the rubber tubing 30, is pressed tightly into engagement with the floor. The resiliency of the element permits retention or the lever arm 29 by the door knob 45 and the force remaining in the element is suflicient to insure adequate engagement between the presser foot and the floor.

The diameter of the material of which the rodlike element is formed is such that, even though covered by the rubber covering 39, it maybe readily engaged and removed from beneath the door upon release of the long lever arm from the door knob 46 U c V Various other characteristics and featu re's of the invention not specifically enumerated herein will undoubtedly occur to those versed in the art, as likewise will numerous modifications and alterations in the preferred form of the invention illustrated, all of which may be achieved without de parture from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is: c 7 c i. For use with a conventionai upright door having opposite faces, side edges a 'ccttsm edge and hinged on a vertical axis along one side edge for swinging over a floor above which the bottom edge is closely spaced: a door stop comprising an elongated element having top and bottom ends and an intermediate fulcrum portion adjacent to said bottom end and engageable beneath the bottom edge of the door, said element further having a short lever arm joined to and extending from the fulcrum portion to the bottom end of the element and adapted to project downwardly and toward one side edge of the door for engaging the bottom end of the element with the floor adjacent to the door, said element hail ing' also a long lever arm joined to and extending from the fulcrum portion to the upper end of the element at such angle to the short lever arm as to project upwardly and toward the other side edge the door in a preliminary position in which the top end of the element is spaced from the door knob, said long lever arm serving to receive manual force applied in a direction toward the door knob to fulcrum the element about the fulcrum portionso as to press the bottom end of the element against the floor, said element includ= ing flexibility therein and the long lever arm being of such legth as to be forcible past the door knob from said preliminary position and to return 4 partly toward said preliminary position for erigagement with and to be retained by the door knob.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, in which: the fulcrum portion is transverse to the length of the element so as to engage the bottom edge of the door on a horizontal axis transverse to the plane of the door, and the lever arms lie lengthwise or the element for positioning in parallelism with the plane of the door; Y a

3. The invention defined in claim 2, in which: the element has means thereon adjacent to the fulcrum portion and in addition to and spaced apart transversely from the long lever arm, said means and said long lever arm receiving the bottom portion of the door therebetween and being engageable with the opposite faces of the door to prevent displacement of the element transversely as respects the door.

4. The invention defined in claim 3, in which: each of said face-engaging means and the bottom end of the element has thereon a covering of rubber or the like material.

5. The invention defined in claim 1, in which: the fulcrum portion is transverse to the length of the element so as to engagethe bottom edge of the door and to project at its opposite ends re-'- spectively at opposite faces of the door, ai-id' the lever arms are joined respectively tosaid opposite ends of the fulcrum portion to extend respectively at and in parallelism with opposite faces of the door.

6. The invention defined in claim 5, in which: the element has first means thereon upstanding from the short-leVr-arm end of the fulcrum means and engageable with the proximate face of the door and the portion of the long lever arm adjacent to the other end of the fulcrum portion provides second means engageable with the other face of the door, said first and second means being adapted to receive the bottom portion of the door therebetween and serving to prevent transverse displacement of the element relative to the door.

7. The inventiondefined in claim 6, in whichi the element comprises a single rod-like member shaped in such manner as to extend from its bottom end to provide the short lever arm, extends into a reverse, generally coplanar upright loop to provide the first door-engaging means, crosses over normal to the plane of theloop to form the fulcrum portion, and extends thence upwardly andnormal to the fulcrum portion to provide both the long lever arm and the second door-engaging means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATEN'IS 

